Newton was Wrong: Things Fall Up

At least when it comes to consumer prices, Newton was dead wrong. The force of gravity is not here on earth when it comes to the prices of the items we buy--it's somewhere out in deep outer space, and it is pulling prices up, up and up.

There had been a rumor erev Pesach that one of the pizza stores was going to raise its prices to $4.00 per slice. It's no longer rumor; my students confirmed last night that the store did indeed raise to $4.00 per slice. That's $32.00 for a pizza pie!

I filled my car up yesterday. My station is still a "cheap" one and only went to $3.19 a gallon for regular gas. Okay, my Toyota gets great mileage and I can get away with only filling up once a week for regular commuting and trips around the neighborhood. But tonight there is a wedding in Monsey. Then there are sheva brochos--add another fill up at $35.00.

Bread and wheat products went up in price at the supermarket. It's a strange world where Coke can go on sale for 89 cents per two-liter bottle but the equivalent amount of milk costs three times as much and more. And fruits and vegetables? Worth their weight in gold. Grapefruits and oranges at 50 cents each, if you can get them at that price.

There are food shortages being reported around the world. Countries that exported certain products are either cutting down on what they are exporting or cutting out altogether. The US is not exempt from this either. With so much of agricultural production going towards the production of ethanol, the prices of soy and corn for personal consumption are going through the roof. The market had a package of 4 corn on the cobs for $3.95. And when cattle and chickens are being fed corn-based feed, you get an idea of why beef and chicken prices are going, going, gone up.

So what does this mean for the kosher consumer? Nothing good. For those who have all along been spending without any planning or budgeting, they are in for real sticker shock when they tally up their monthly spending. For those who do work with a budget and watch their expenditures, there is almost no wiggle room left. And economists are forecasting that prices are not finished climbing up yet. Shipping products from point of origin to point of sale takes fuel, and fuel costs are driving many food costs up. Kosher products have always been more expensive, because of their limited sale audience, and they, too, go up in price in concert with the general products sold.

So what's the answer? I wish there really was one in place. Our government has invested heavily in ethanol and other bio-fuels. The "experts" are saying, many of them, that this is a costly mistake. It takes fuel to make these alternative fuels and the cost is not cheaper then regular fuels. It has also driven up food prices because producers of corn are being paid far higher by the companies that buy the corn for fuel production then they get when they sell their corn for people consumption. We aren't spending enough time and money in looking at and developing other means of power. Vast parts of this country fall into Sunbelt regions. Solar energy is more than just a possibility in these areas, and yet, where is the push towards solar energy? Even northern areas could take advantage of solar power during the warmer, sunnier parts of the year, reducing their dependence on fossil fuels.

This country is still jam packed with brilliant scientists, engineers and the like. They've managed to perfect systems that turn off lights when the system senses that no one is in the room. They've managed to invent some of the strangest devices every seen--a coffee pot that senses when someone enters a room and starts percolating--and yet where are those brilliant minds when it comes to addressing the problem of fossil fuel reliance and that fuel's price impact on other consumer goods?

All roads lead back to our politicians. I do so wish they would get their heads out of wherever their heads are at the moment and actually see what is happening to the people they have been elected to help. Yet there they still are, spouting gibberish about democracy and Iraq, about building bridges to nowhere in Alaska, about erecting statues to some long forgotten war hero in a square in Podunk USA, about whether we should change our entire system of paper currency so that every denomination is a different size, so that those with severe vision problems can feel the different denominations. Never mind that every single machine that accepts bills anywhere in the country would have to be refitted to accept the different sizes, at an astronomical cost.

Here in our borough our Borough President has a "brilliant" solution to the fuel problem. He is going to be spending some $5,000,000 on building parks in every general neighborhood so that people will not have to use cars to take their kids to the park. Yup, that is a major problem for people everywhere--driving to the park. And yet our borough still has no major public transportation with the exception of some buses--not enough of them--that don't run often enough. Glad to know they are using our tax dollars so wisely.

Here's a thought. Let's stop complaining to each other alone. You're sitting at your computer right now reading this. Just how much time and energy would it take to send off a letter to all your government representatives telling them that you want them to take their heads out of the clouds and start addressing the real problems that need addressing now? "What would one letter possibly accomplish?" you scoff. Who is talking about one letter? If all blog readers sent a letter, sent 10 letters, you are talking about considerably more than one letter. Public officials are sensitive to public outrage, particularly when they get hundreds and thousands of letters. Do your part--send a complaint. It's the cheapest thing you will spend on today, and it just might eventually result in pizza that doesn't cost the same as a standing rib roast.

Wherever Newton is now, I'm sure he is blanching. Unlike his theory, things fall up. Let's save Newton some embarrassment; let's go back to a time when things always fall down.